A single flake of snow, an ever present feature in Kumo’s mountain air this time of year, melted on the rosy cheek of a purple-haired nine-year-old. He, along with several of the elderly Kumo citizens he had picked the habit up from, looked at the clouds moving through the mountain tops and listened for the birds before nodding. It would not be until night before the snow began to fall. The feel of the cold mountain breeze did not faze most of the residents in the Village Hidden in the Clouds, but it did encourage the sensible ones to go about their tasks a little faster. It took much more energy to get things done in a heavy snow, and not one person had time for that sort of nonsense. Osuteno picked up his pace as he crossed the street from the estate where he lived to his insane neighbor’s mansion, where his mission would begin.
Luckily it seemed as if he would not be meeting the woman directly as he found the horse drawn carriage just beyond the mansion’s gate with a note on the seat. On it were pretty basic instructions, where exactly he needed to go, who to speak to when he got there, a list of the items he needed to confirm were there and in good shape, a finally that he needed to keep an eye on Roxanne to make sure she didn’t run off and spend the money or otherwise get into trouble. Osu lowered the note and stared down blankly at the dressed-up rock that had been under the note and put the envelope of money that had been in under it in his belt pouch. He looked down at his “supervisor” once more and decided the best way to keep it safe was by putting it inside the carriage where he didn’t have to look at it.
A few moments later the rock was inside the carriage and now that it was out of his view this felt like a good normal mission. The only problem was the rock, and why the woman was so obsessed with it… and him for that matter was beyond him. It might be best to get the woman an appointment at the hospital. That would have to come later though as Osu picked up the reigns and directed the horse forwards through the gates into the streets of Kumo.
The ride through the village was easy enough, but it took ages compared to how fast he could have run through it on foot. It was a good hour and a half before he finally made it through all the traffic to the village gates where they confirmed his mission orders before letting him out. His team started making its way down the wide mountainside rode that descended from the village to the plains far below where he needed to meet up with the traders. Osu was making a lot more distance for his time now that he was out of the village, but he couldn’t go too fast around the winding road. He passed a good number of travelers on the road. Ever since the new Raikage opened the village back up to outsiders the number of travelers had been growing dramatically as the news spread. That bit didn’t concern him much though it was always nice to see new faces. He gave a small wave to many of the people he noticed looking at him as he passed not realizing that the only thing that prevented the people he passed from questioning the sight of a little girl driving such a nice carriage was his headband hanging around his neck.
No the thing that did concern him was that in the short span of time since people started moving to and from the village once more, there had been a sharp increase in the number of bandit attacks. It wasn’t anything too organized as most of the more established groups knew how inadvisable it was to do their activities so close to a shinobi village. The problem was that there were dozens if not hundreds of small bands that had formed at what they saw as an opportune time, which made it harder to stop the problem all at once than it would have been with more organized groups. There were more patrols now and the situation was being cleaned up, but there was always a chance a few might be brave or stupid enough to continue with their activities.
Osu rode on for another couple hours down the mountain path before finally reaching the plains. He was lucky he had started before noon with how slowly these horses had to move with the carriage. He had only been out of the village a couple times so it took him a minute to get his bearings straight while looking at the directions. It seemed he just needed to continue along the southern path to get where he was heading, a well-traveled road with very little chance of complications.
As he rode along he took a good look and the surrounding hills that rolled along what counted as plains near the village. The road slithered along much like a snake between the mounds and unless you rode up to one of the taller hills you couldn’t see very far in any direction. It was one of the only reasons that the bandits had not been all routed out already. For all he knew there could be a bunch of them on just the other side of any of these hills and neither he nor they would ever know particularly since it had just rained the day before and there would be no dust to signal either party.
Eventually he found the caravan of the trader Jyo. Trader Jyo seemed to be a rather self-important man who overpriced his goods with the silliest of reason but it was not his coin being spent though he could not see the merit of pricing cattle over what sort of grass they had been grazed on. Wealthy people were particular over the strangest things. He did realize after he had the thought that he now belonged to that lot. It didn’t matter, he had spent the first years of his life a “commoner” and he would not lose the ever valuable common sense that the wealthy in large numbers seemed to lack.
That lack of common sense seemed to show itself in this list he was checking off as the items as they were loaded into the carriage. Stack of cookbooks for making wedding cakes… sake oh from Kitsune-Sensei’s land... a western wedding dress and veil for what he could only assume was for some oddly shaped doll… a tuxedo that he noted would have fit him perfectly just a month or two ago, quite the coincidence… boxes of blank wedding invitations…
Osu looked at all the wedding supplies loaded up in the carriage. “That wedding is going to be huge,” he said a bit loudly. Trader Jyo looked at him and nodded, “Tell me about it little miss, this is only the first shipment. All I had room to bring with me on short notice. She has ordered enough supplies that I will be bringing it all in shipments for my next few monthly visits to the village. But money gets what money wants as far as I care. Whoever this couple is getting ready to marry they are going to have one of the most ridiculous displays of wealth seen in some time. Even for a Lady he much be spending half her fortune.” Osu could only shake his head he was a boy dang it.
After everything was loaded up and paid for he took the reins and started back for the village. Once again he took to looking around at the countryside. He would see it more regularly from now on, he was sure, but it didn’t change the fact it felt exciting to be outside the village. He looked beside him at Roxanne next to him on the seat and his eyes passed over that bird that seemed to follow him around roosting on the back of one of the horses before looking away… Wait a second. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. He knew he had put the rock inside the carriage and there was no mistaking that bird. A few more birds flew down and rested on the horses seeming to stare at him. He took out a shuriken and threw it between a few of the birds to scare them off. They didn’t even flinch as it flew by. Well that certainly wasn’t normal.
Suddenly the birds began stabbing their beaks into the horses, which were already more than a little spooked by all the sudden passengers. While he was typically good with animals, Osu had no experience calming horses and they charged off the road and up a hill dragging the carriage behind. As they got to the top and began charging down the other side Osu noticed some riders and began calling for their assistance. They were rather stunned with his sudden appearance as the carriage charged across the path just ahead of them. While the gawked at him he noticed that the near thirty riders were a rather dirty lot, well-armed, scarred, and in every way shape and form looked like model bandits.
After a good 30 spans the one in the lead pulled out his sword and pointed towards Osu while charging. “Capture the girl and her carriage!” Okay enough was enough. He stood up in the seat and turned around pointing at them. “I am a boy!” he yelled back. “Begging your pardon! Kill the boy and loot his carriage!” As Osu ducked back down to avoid a sudden rain of arrows he decided there might be some occasional merit to letting people believe what they wanted to believe. If the bandits were not willing to kill a young girl maybe it would have been better to act the young girl, though it was a bit late for that revelation.
Another quick glance behind him allowed him to finish his count, not 30, only 27. Only 27, pfft. Be it 27 or 100 the odds were far more than he could handle alone. They were gaining on him too. The carriage was far too heavy and he was unable to just leave it behind. He would only have been able to outrun the horses if he were in a forest anyway. No, he would have to fight them. As he thought that he heard the flow of blood of a man approaching the carriage. It seemed he intended to climb on and take control from Osu. He flung a single drop of blood back and the man convulsed and fell off the carriage. IT was a painful thing but the man wouldn’t die just from that, not typically and it made one less person following him. Two less it seemed as another stopped to help. Now he only had 25 on his tail.
Osu had managed to regain some control of the horses and had them running back towards the village. He didn’t need to defeat all the men, but rather last until he hit the mountain path where he was sure they would not be stupid enough to follow him. The plains were one thing but that mountain path was the only way into the village and had many shinobi constantly watching from above. Even if they did follow it would only spell certain defeat even if there were a thousand of them. He just had to make it there. As he knocked another off from trying to climb on he decided he needed to slow the horses down somehow. A few hand signs later a sudden downpour began, it was a very cold rain thanks to the weather but that didn’t matter he simply wanted the water. A few more hand signs and he jumped on top of the carriage. Once more a single drop of blood appeared but this time it simply dropped down to the ground. As soon as it hit a puddle a red tide sprang into being and rushed towards the riders behind. Knocking them and their horses over and even washing a couple back a bit. Surprised by the effectiveness of that Osu performed the Hidden Mist jutsu and everyone disappeared from sight. As he went to take his seat he noticed that somehow the rock was positioned on the reins in such a way to keep them going straight.
Getting back to the village was uneventful and he reported the bandit sighting to the gate guards as the purchases went through customs where the invitations were confiscated due to being made from an endangered tree. It was beginning to snow like he knew it would and it was already well into evening when the carriage pulled up to the mad woman’s mansion. He parked it, wrote a note explaining the arrows in the back of it and the invitations, and went back across the street to his home. It had been a long day.
Luckily it seemed as if he would not be meeting the woman directly as he found the horse drawn carriage just beyond the mansion’s gate with a note on the seat. On it were pretty basic instructions, where exactly he needed to go, who to speak to when he got there, a list of the items he needed to confirm were there and in good shape, a finally that he needed to keep an eye on Roxanne to make sure she didn’t run off and spend the money or otherwise get into trouble. Osu lowered the note and stared down blankly at the dressed-up rock that had been under the note and put the envelope of money that had been in under it in his belt pouch. He looked down at his “supervisor” once more and decided the best way to keep it safe was by putting it inside the carriage where he didn’t have to look at it.
A few moments later the rock was inside the carriage and now that it was out of his view this felt like a good normal mission. The only problem was the rock, and why the woman was so obsessed with it… and him for that matter was beyond him. It might be best to get the woman an appointment at the hospital. That would have to come later though as Osu picked up the reigns and directed the horse forwards through the gates into the streets of Kumo.
The ride through the village was easy enough, but it took ages compared to how fast he could have run through it on foot. It was a good hour and a half before he finally made it through all the traffic to the village gates where they confirmed his mission orders before letting him out. His team started making its way down the wide mountainside rode that descended from the village to the plains far below where he needed to meet up with the traders. Osu was making a lot more distance for his time now that he was out of the village, but he couldn’t go too fast around the winding road. He passed a good number of travelers on the road. Ever since the new Raikage opened the village back up to outsiders the number of travelers had been growing dramatically as the news spread. That bit didn’t concern him much though it was always nice to see new faces. He gave a small wave to many of the people he noticed looking at him as he passed not realizing that the only thing that prevented the people he passed from questioning the sight of a little girl driving such a nice carriage was his headband hanging around his neck.
No the thing that did concern him was that in the short span of time since people started moving to and from the village once more, there had been a sharp increase in the number of bandit attacks. It wasn’t anything too organized as most of the more established groups knew how inadvisable it was to do their activities so close to a shinobi village. The problem was that there were dozens if not hundreds of small bands that had formed at what they saw as an opportune time, which made it harder to stop the problem all at once than it would have been with more organized groups. There were more patrols now and the situation was being cleaned up, but there was always a chance a few might be brave or stupid enough to continue with their activities.
Osu rode on for another couple hours down the mountain path before finally reaching the plains. He was lucky he had started before noon with how slowly these horses had to move with the carriage. He had only been out of the village a couple times so it took him a minute to get his bearings straight while looking at the directions. It seemed he just needed to continue along the southern path to get where he was heading, a well-traveled road with very little chance of complications.
As he rode along he took a good look and the surrounding hills that rolled along what counted as plains near the village. The road slithered along much like a snake between the mounds and unless you rode up to one of the taller hills you couldn’t see very far in any direction. It was one of the only reasons that the bandits had not been all routed out already. For all he knew there could be a bunch of them on just the other side of any of these hills and neither he nor they would ever know particularly since it had just rained the day before and there would be no dust to signal either party.
Eventually he found the caravan of the trader Jyo. Trader Jyo seemed to be a rather self-important man who overpriced his goods with the silliest of reason but it was not his coin being spent though he could not see the merit of pricing cattle over what sort of grass they had been grazed on. Wealthy people were particular over the strangest things. He did realize after he had the thought that he now belonged to that lot. It didn’t matter, he had spent the first years of his life a “commoner” and he would not lose the ever valuable common sense that the wealthy in large numbers seemed to lack.
That lack of common sense seemed to show itself in this list he was checking off as the items as they were loaded into the carriage. Stack of cookbooks for making wedding cakes… sake oh from Kitsune-Sensei’s land... a western wedding dress and veil for what he could only assume was for some oddly shaped doll… a tuxedo that he noted would have fit him perfectly just a month or two ago, quite the coincidence… boxes of blank wedding invitations…
Osu looked at all the wedding supplies loaded up in the carriage. “That wedding is going to be huge,” he said a bit loudly. Trader Jyo looked at him and nodded, “Tell me about it little miss, this is only the first shipment. All I had room to bring with me on short notice. She has ordered enough supplies that I will be bringing it all in shipments for my next few monthly visits to the village. But money gets what money wants as far as I care. Whoever this couple is getting ready to marry they are going to have one of the most ridiculous displays of wealth seen in some time. Even for a Lady he much be spending half her fortune.” Osu could only shake his head he was a boy dang it.
After everything was loaded up and paid for he took the reins and started back for the village. Once again he took to looking around at the countryside. He would see it more regularly from now on, he was sure, but it didn’t change the fact it felt exciting to be outside the village. He looked beside him at Roxanne next to him on the seat and his eyes passed over that bird that seemed to follow him around roosting on the back of one of the horses before looking away… Wait a second. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. He knew he had put the rock inside the carriage and there was no mistaking that bird. A few more birds flew down and rested on the horses seeming to stare at him. He took out a shuriken and threw it between a few of the birds to scare them off. They didn’t even flinch as it flew by. Well that certainly wasn’t normal.
Suddenly the birds began stabbing their beaks into the horses, which were already more than a little spooked by all the sudden passengers. While he was typically good with animals, Osu had no experience calming horses and they charged off the road and up a hill dragging the carriage behind. As they got to the top and began charging down the other side Osu noticed some riders and began calling for their assistance. They were rather stunned with his sudden appearance as the carriage charged across the path just ahead of them. While the gawked at him he noticed that the near thirty riders were a rather dirty lot, well-armed, scarred, and in every way shape and form looked like model bandits.
After a good 30 spans the one in the lead pulled out his sword and pointed towards Osu while charging. “Capture the girl and her carriage!” Okay enough was enough. He stood up in the seat and turned around pointing at them. “I am a boy!” he yelled back. “Begging your pardon! Kill the boy and loot his carriage!” As Osu ducked back down to avoid a sudden rain of arrows he decided there might be some occasional merit to letting people believe what they wanted to believe. If the bandits were not willing to kill a young girl maybe it would have been better to act the young girl, though it was a bit late for that revelation.
Another quick glance behind him allowed him to finish his count, not 30, only 27. Only 27, pfft. Be it 27 or 100 the odds were far more than he could handle alone. They were gaining on him too. The carriage was far too heavy and he was unable to just leave it behind. He would only have been able to outrun the horses if he were in a forest anyway. No, he would have to fight them. As he thought that he heard the flow of blood of a man approaching the carriage. It seemed he intended to climb on and take control from Osu. He flung a single drop of blood back and the man convulsed and fell off the carriage. IT was a painful thing but the man wouldn’t die just from that, not typically and it made one less person following him. Two less it seemed as another stopped to help. Now he only had 25 on his tail.
Osu had managed to regain some control of the horses and had them running back towards the village. He didn’t need to defeat all the men, but rather last until he hit the mountain path where he was sure they would not be stupid enough to follow him. The plains were one thing but that mountain path was the only way into the village and had many shinobi constantly watching from above. Even if they did follow it would only spell certain defeat even if there were a thousand of them. He just had to make it there. As he knocked another off from trying to climb on he decided he needed to slow the horses down somehow. A few hand signs later a sudden downpour began, it was a very cold rain thanks to the weather but that didn’t matter he simply wanted the water. A few more hand signs and he jumped on top of the carriage. Once more a single drop of blood appeared but this time it simply dropped down to the ground. As soon as it hit a puddle a red tide sprang into being and rushed towards the riders behind. Knocking them and their horses over and even washing a couple back a bit. Surprised by the effectiveness of that Osu performed the Hidden Mist jutsu and everyone disappeared from sight. As he went to take his seat he noticed that somehow the rock was positioned on the reins in such a way to keep them going straight.
Getting back to the village was uneventful and he reported the bandit sighting to the gate guards as the purchases went through customs where the invitations were confiscated due to being made from an endangered tree. It was beginning to snow like he knew it would and it was already well into evening when the carriage pulled up to the mad woman’s mansion. He parked it, wrote a note explaining the arrows in the back of it and the invitations, and went back across the street to his home. It had been a long day.